4 - 2001

Churches in Europe

The EKD Brussels office

The EKD’s office in Brussels is a branch office of the authorised representative of the EKD Council to the Federal Republic of Germany and the European communities. It was set up in 1990, to take account of the increasing importance of policies and legislation within the European Union for the work of the churches in Germany.

The European Union does not claim to have anything to do with the relations of its member states to the churches and religious communities within them. Thus it does not question the particular status of the churches in Germany and the responsibility for public life that they help to carry (through social services, educational institutions etc.). Nonetheless, EU policies and European legislation have direct effects on the work of the churches and their institutions, for example in the area of labour laws.

The most important task for the EKD Brussels office is therefore to inform church bodies and institutions about developments in the European Union which refer to them. A substantial part of this is done through talks given by Brussels office staff members in Germany, fact-finding visits to the office by groups from church offices and congregations, and through the regular publication of "Europe News (Europa-Informationen)”. Through the dialogue with officials of the European institutions and with staff members of economic, governmental and non-governmental organisations in Brussels, the EKD office brings EKD positions on issues into political discussions.

Heidrun Bock